Some days back, the country was shocked again at the heights of intolerance shown by some followers of a self proclaimed god man. The arrest of a comedian named Kiku Sharda on the grounds that he had insulted the famous Haryana God man Gurmeet Singh Ram Rahim, has once aging, spurred up the debate on intolerance. For people who don’t know Kiku, let me tell you about him. He is the immensely funny fat guy, who goes by playing the neighbour in Comedy Nights with Kapil and also for a time, played “Gulgule” in the famous comedy show, FIR. The people who have watched his acts, will admit that, not only is he funny but he also brings in a particular flavour to the screen, which for some others, are difficult to obtain, particularly, the advantage for him being his physique and his inexplicitly funny facial structure.
It came as a shocker to many that the Haryana police acted so quickly on the complaint lodged by one of the followers of Gurmeet Singh Ram Rahim. In Haryana, there are thousands of pending cases of rape and molestation and theft and murder, but leaving behind all these, the police have acted on an urgency basis on this complaint lodged by a ‘bhakt’ concerning the ‘insult’ he faced regarding his guru. We must all remember that, this man, Gurmeet Singh, gives reaped help to some political outfits as well as he is a regular in many political rallies around the state. So you must very well understand that in the season of polls, which is approaching, it is profitable for the political parties to keep this man happy.
But the thing is how can such a man, who has cases of rape and murder pending against him, get such a huge following in the state and the country?
The fact is, in our country, which is so proud of its hegemony and heretical culture; it is tremendously easy for any man, proclaiming himself to be a messenger of God to gain immense public admiration and fellowship. The same thing had happened with Gurmeet Singh. His followers have said that Kiku’s portrayal has hurt our culture. I ask them, how can a man who roams about in big bikes, wears idiotic cheap t-shirts and shoes, be proclaimed as our culture?
Well, this is not all, this man, some years back, allegedly forced his followers to undergo forced castrations just because he thought that it would get them close to GOD, now I have no knowledge of any God, who gets closer to his disciples in the Hindu culture if they undergo castrations. While that case is still not resolved, the ‘deras’ in which he runs his operations go on unabated under the patronage of the Haryana Police and various politicians and their outfits.
In a state of affairs, where the nation has suffered two huge setbacks, both internationally and nationally, in the name of the Pathankot Attacks and the Malda Incidents respectively, this news has very shrewdly been taken off and has gained lukewarm response in contrast to what it should have been attached. It also remains to be seen, whether the arrest has been timed seeing the Malda incidents where allegedly some communal flare up took place at the insistence and provocation of some pseudo secularist parties like the TMC and the JD (U).
The icing on the cake for national and international image of the Ram Rahim baba a.k.a “the Rockstar Baba” came up when he himself produced (and probably directed too) an entire film on himself called “MSG”, the short form of Messenger of God. The sequel of that film came up in 2015 called “MSG 2” and portrayed the same sort of foolishness as was in the first part. It is really, sad to see an entire state (or even the country from the statements made by numerous ‘bhakts’) mesmerized by such a personality who goes around the film saying “you are my love charger”.
I admit, everybody can portray and express his feelings in any way he deems fit, but then, what was the offence of Kiku Sharda. He too, in fact, tried to entertain the audience just as the “MSG” tries, when he tries to present a glamorous camouflage to his disgraceful ‘methods’ of ‘meeting GOD’. If people, can find “MSG” and his music and his acting good (well, I want to meet those) and they can get their entertainment from MSG and MSG2 and his albums, I find Kiku Sharda funny and Gurmeet Singh Ram Rahim extremely funny in his funny clothes and bikes, so if Kiku had tried to entertain thousands like me when he portrayed Gurmeet Singh, he did nothing wrong. Just as Gurmeet Singh caters to the needs of specific section of people, he too was catering to the needs of a specific section of the (logical) masses.
My entire gust of anger goes to the state police and politicians, who deliberately make such persons heroes in the eyes of the layman and use them for their political patronage and benefits. Gurmeet Singh, is not a ‘religion’ in himself, I repeat, he is not a religion in himself, so Kiku Sharda’s portrayal is not at all harming the image of any religion, but rather it is just a spoof on a person, and if spoofs on Lalu Prasad and Arnab Goswami, can go on in the country, without any hullabaloo, why the fuss over Gurmeet Singh Ram Rahim (it’s such a long name). Gurmeet Singh, a man accused of rapes, murders, forced castrations and militant connections, enjoys a free run over the entire country with Z-security, while a genuine entertainer sits behind the bars because he entertained us with something actually funnier than titles like ‘Love Charger’, ‘Chora Babbar Sher Ka’ and ‘Network Tere Love Ka’. .
And finally they say, India is after all, a tolerant country, HAHA!
